Hastert lends Border Patrol his helicopter to help agent

"House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert traveled to the Southwest during the weekend to survey for himself the porous borders that have become his party's campaign battle cry and ended up having to loan one of his helicopters to Border Patrol agents who found themselves short-handed.

The Illinois Republican was leading a delegation from Congress to a remote outpost in Arizona called Camp Grip when a lone Border Patrol agent called for backup, Mr. Hastert told The Washington Times. The agent had come across fresh tracks crossing the border and a stash of more than 200 pounds of marijuana.

Deep in the desert and a four-hour drive from the nearest Border Patrol station, Camp Grip doesn't have a helicopter regularly stationed there. So, agents grabbed machine guns and loaded into one of the four UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters ferrying Mr. Hastert's delegation and flew out to back up the agent.

'The border has become a sieve,' Mr. Hastert said later. 'We need to put more Border Patrol guards in places like Camp Grip.' " More.